| Jalapeños are often the pepper of choice for adding a little spice to any dish — a fact that's probably been true for millennia. The horticulture of chile peppers in general dates back to between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago, and they may even have been one of the first crops domesticated in America. Chile seeds have been found in 9,000-year-old Mexican archaeological sites, uncovered in 7,000-year-old caves in South America, and described in the myths and rituals of Indigenous cultures in Central and South America. But although there are many members of the Capsicum genus, only one eventually became the predominant pepper for nachos and tacos in the U.S. — and its namesake is the capital of the Mexican state of Veracruz, Xalapa (pronounced with an "h"). "Xalapa" comes from the Nahuatl (a language spoken by the Aztecs and other Mesoamerican groups) word xalli, meaning "sand," and apan, meaning "spring," and it was from this fertile "spring in the sand" that jalapeños first took root. Even today, residents of Xalapa are known as "Xalapeños," which simply means "from Xalapa." Although first domesticated in the Americas, jalapeños made the eastward journey across the Atlantic sometime in the mid-16th century, then spread worldwide through the vast expanse of Spanish and Portuguese empires. Today, their popularity comes in part from their versatility — they're delicious fresh, roasted, or pickled. They're also milder than some other popular peppers: Compared to habanero peppers (which, coincidentally, mean "from Havana"), jalapeños are 35 times less spicy, according to the Scoville scale used to measure spiciness. That helps make them the go-to pepper for any Mexican-inspired recipe, at least for those of us who can't stand the heat. | 
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